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“ 高 岑 迥 别 。 高 悲 壮 而 厚 , 岑 奇 逸 而 峭 。 锺 伯 敬 谓 高 , 岑 诗 如 出 一 手 , 大 谬 矣 .” 18
Gao Shi and Cen Shen are far apart from one another. Gao Shi is solemn and stirring while
simple and direct; Cen Shen is preeminent and beyond the common while quite charming.
Zhong Bojing [Zhong Xing 锺 惺 ] 19 was very much mistaken in stating that Gao Shi and Cen
Shen's [poetry] seem to be composed by the same hand.
Even today, Yan Yu's pairing of Gao Shi and Cen Shen continues to exert an influence over the
discussion of Cen Shen's frontier poetry in contemporary articles, a critical dialogue in which Cen Shen
is often the “Cen” component of the Gao-Cen binary hermeneutic system imbued with the
aforementioned stirring solemnity. 20 Symmetries and asymmetries between Gao Shi and Cen Shen also
feature heavily in recent criticism, 21 proving how the Gao-Cen paradigm is a difficult corral to break
out of. This leads Xiao to conclude that the term “frontier writers”, and by extension the twin-headed
critical creation 高 岑 (Gao-Cen), tends to obscure the individual character of poets who are herded
into the “frontier poetry” pen. As for the tripartite characterization of frontier poetry reached by Xiao, a
necessary evil in a world of literary categories, the system is proposed with the intent of doing the least
amount of violence to its members' styles and artistic concerns. By opening the “frontier school” of
poetry as broadly as Xiao does, so that the martial, cultural and geographical reality of the frontier all
stand relatively equal to one another, the diverse content of frontier poetry is able to bloom without any
one colour overwhelming the entire bouquet.
18
Lang Tinghuai 郎 廷 槐 (Qing 清 dynasty) Shiyoushizhuan Lu 师 友 诗 传 录 , p. 16 in SKQS.
19
Zhong Bojing (1574-1624) was as “a poet, literary critic, and anthologist”. See Robert E. Hegel's entry in William H.
Nienhauser, Jr., ed., The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, p. 369.
20
A recent discussion shaped by the “ 悲 壮 ”mold is in Liu Yuefeng's 刘 越 峰 “Ye tan Cen Shen shige de beizhuang” 也
谈 岑 参 诗 歌 的 悲 壮 Zhongguo wenxue yanjiu 中 国 文 学 研 究 (Changsha: Hunan Normal University 湖 南 师 范 大 学 )
2008, pp.74-76. In this essay, 悲 壮 is analyzed as a pervasive feature in Cen Shen's poetry, one born of the
contradictory yearning for an eremetic lifestyle while in pursuit of rank and official recognition. With the poet choosing
the latter route, the poetry itself becomes infused with “stirring solemnity” , an effect of the clash between an ideal
lifestyle and the one actually chosen. This inner conflict is also treated to an extended analysis in a subsection of Ren
Wenjing's Tangdai biansaishi de wenhua chanshi.
21
Several comparative essays are available of Gao Shi and Cen Shen, one of the more recent being Gu Nong 顾 农 , “Gao
Shi yu Cen Shen” 高 适 与 岑 参 , Gudian wenxue zhishi 古 典 文 学 知 识 2009.1, pp. 81-88.